


Chemistry 101

by HighlyOpinionatedNerd



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Kid is a sophomore computer engineering student, Law is a senior medical student, M/M, and neither of them has their lives together, part of the Grand Line University AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 09:06:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16059920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlyOpinionatedNerd/pseuds/HighlyOpinionatedNerd
Summary: Law is a good student. He has to be, if he's going to get into a good medical school and eventually become a good surgeon. He doesn't have time for things like making friends. No matterhowdetermined Eustass Kid seems to be to change his mind.





	Chemistry 101

**Author's Note:**

> The term SI, as used in this fic, is something I pulled from my own university. It stands for supplemental instruction, and it is a paid position for students. SI instructors hold meetings a couple of times a week to re-go over what was covered in class and help students prepare for tests and stuff like that.

Law was woken by the light of the morning sun shining on his face. Which was odd, because he had blackout curtains in his room. But he was too tired to get up and do anything about it.

His head hurt, too, and it felt like there was something weighing on his chest. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

He never pulled back the curtains in his room. What had he been thinking last night…?

Wait a minute.

He didn’t just have a headache. He had a _hangover_.

Not good.

Slowly, Law opened his eyes. What he saw confirmed what he had started to suspect, but had been really, really been hoping was not the case; he wasn’t in his apartment.

Memories of the previous night came back to him sketchy, at best. He remembered thinking that he at least deserved to treat himself to a drink or two at the bar after a particularly long, hard week. But not a lot else. Judging from how he felt, he must have had more to drink than originally planned.

Cautiously, he turned his head a little. The weight he’d been feeling was someone’s arm thrown casually around his chest. His bare chest.

...Shit.

Definitely not good.

Law squeezed his eyes closed again, fighting off a wave of mixed panic and nausea. He should have known this would happen, damnit. This is what _always_ happened whenever he got too drunk.

He racked his brains, trying to remember who else had been at the bar the previous night. He thought he recalled a few faces, but none that really stood out.

He took a deep breath. Then another. Then he opened his eyes again and, doing his best not to move too much, he twisted around to see who it was he was in bed with.

Pale skin and a shock of bright, bright red hair.

_Shit._

Law whipped his head back down and squeezed his eyes shut even harder, hoping what he had just seen would stop being true. But he knew that wouldn’t happen. He’d really done it this time.

Law acknowledged that he undeniably had a type. And the sophomore who’d been coming to his SI this semester was exactly that type. Tall, muscular, sleeve of tattoos running the length of one arm...God fucking damnit, Drunk Law should never have been allowed within half a mile of him.

He laid there for what felt like a long time, hating himself for being such a predictable drunken slut. Also taking deep, even breaths and trying not to throw up, but mostly the former.

But there’s only so much self-hatred you can do before you have to face reality. He couldn’t stay there forever.

As quietly and with as little motion as he could manage, Law wiggled himself out from under the other man’s arm. He couldn’t even remember his name. Something weird and old fashioned, he thought, but he wasn’t sure. Regardless, he made it out without waking him up.

Law looked around. They were in some kind of studio apartment, with lots of windows letting in the early morning sunlight. Enough light to see the various articles of clothing scattered between the bed and the door.

He briefly contemplated just throwing himself out of one of the windows and letting a car run him over or some shit. Predictable. Drunken. Slut.

But in the end he decided he was being overdramatic (another one of his many flaws, but one that he was getting better at recognizing), and instead went looking for his pants.

He almost made it out without incident. Almost. But halfway to the door and into his jeans, he tripped over some kind of clutter on the floor and made a horrendous amount of noise.

Behind him came the sounds of movement from the bed. Law could have screamed in frustration. Of fucking course he hadn’t been able to leave without waking him up.

“Mmm...hn? Uh...oh. _Oh_.”

Law quickly finished fastening his jeans, and turned around to face the sophomore, whose name was still somehow eluding him, and tried to look like he wasn’t wishing he’d never been born.

“Hey.”

The red haired man was staring at him, wide eyed and slack jawed. Not at all like Law had expected him to look right now, considering the swagger he always carried himself with whenever Law had seen him around campus.

“Uh...hey.” He pushed himself up into a sitting position, still staring at Law. “Fuck, um...are you, like, are you ok?”

Law blinked. “I’m...fine?”

“It’s just, you were pretty hammered last night.”

“Oh. Yeah, it’s...don’t worry about it, I’m fine.”

“Oh. Ok.”

There was an awkward, silent pause.

“I’m gonna go,” Law muttered, turning around again and hastily picking his shirt up off the floor. “Sorry for, uh, this. Forget it ever happened.”

“Law, wait!”

The red haired sophomore tumbled out of bed, tangling himself in the blanket in his haste to keep Law from leaving.

Law waited. “What?”

“I shouldn’t have- I mean- I didn’t- _fuck_.” He took a deep breath. “I should apologize.”

“Oh, no, you don’t need to apologize. It...this was my fault.”

“It’s my fault too. I mean, you were drunk, and I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you. But I was kinda drunk too, and it...seemed like too good of an opportunity, at the time,” he finished quietly, not quite meeting Law’s eyes. “So, sorry.”

“I’m not gonna like, sue you or anything.”

“You’re not mad?”

“No. Not mad. Just...Can we just pretend this never happened?”

“O-oh. I mean, yeah. If that’s what you want. It never happened.”

Law nodded jerkily. “Thanks. I just...sorry, I’m sorry.”

He hurriedly turned and practically ran the last few steps to the door, scooping up his discarded shoes on the way out, leaving the redhead standing there alone.

 

 _Eustass_. That was his name. Eustass Kid.

Law leaned back in his desk chair, studying Kid’s picture on the screen in front of him, lined up with all the other students in the class roster. It dawned on him that he didn’t know any of their names, either.

He sighed deeply. That wasn’t unusual. Normally, it wouldn’t even matter. He didn’t even like teaching SI’s. But he needed the money, and it was an easy enough job, leaving him plenty of time to focus on his own work and skip the whole ‘getting to know people’ stage.

Speaking of his own work...

He closed out the tab and turned off the computer, getting up from the desk. He walked over to his bed and flopped down on it, groaning loudly. He really couldn’t afford to get behind. But he was so, so tired. There was little chance that he could get much done right now.

His upstairs neighbors were making their usual racket. His head throbbed with every thump on the ceiling above him.

This whole apartment building was pretty trashy, honestly. There were no elevators, and the building was too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. It was cheap, and it was close to campus, so Law put up with it. But that didn’t mean that he had to like living there.

He kept telling himself that it would all be worth it one day. One day, when he had a real job in a hospital somewhere or something like that, he wouldn’t even remember these days.

But sometimes that day seemed very, very far off.

He was tired.

He got up anyway, and resigned himself to a long day.

 

Law did his best to put the embarrassing events of the past weekend out of his mind. Every time he even started to think about what had happened with Kid, he quickly distracted himself with something else. A simple strategy, but one that seemed to be pretty effective.

At least, it worked pretty well until Thursday, when he received a text message.

‘Hey,’ it read, ‘it’s Eustass Kid. This Law?’

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. He thought he’d made it clear that he just wanted to forget the whole sex thing.

‘How did you get this number?’

‘You gave it to us at the si meeting. Remember? You said to text if we needed extra help with the hw.’

Oh. He had done that, actually. So, this wasn’t about sex. He’d overreacted again was all. Good.

‘What part are you having trouble with?’ he typed.

‘Fucking all of it,’ Kid answered. A second message came through a second later, reading ‘Sorry, shouldn’t have used that language.’

‘I’m not a professor, I don’t care about your language.’

‘Oh good. Dude, I don’t understand shit about this assignment. Tutoring center doesn’t have anybody available to help at times that fit my schedule. Do you think you could go over it with me, one on one? I’m fuckin desperate here, man.’

Law sighed. Technically, this was included as part of his job.

‘When are you free?’

 

They arranged to meet up the next day, a Friday, in Law’s apartment. He didn’t particularly like the idea of doing it there, but he’d had some less-than-great experiences trying to do the same kind of thing in public spaces before, particularly on campus. Easier just to have Kid come over.

Or so he had thought.

“Do the people upstairs have, like, a pet gorilla or something?” Kid growled, frowning up at the ceiling.

“Focus on your work.”

“I’m trying. Your gorilla neighbors are being distracting.”

The two of them were sitting at the table in the apartment’s little living room; Kid with an open chemistry textbook and a half finished homework packet in front of him, Law staring at a frustratingly blank page on his laptop screen that was supposed to be the beginning of a research paper.

“Have you finished that page yet?”

“Almost. Hang on a sec...ok, there, done.”

Kid handed the homework packet to Law, and waited expectantly while he looked it over.

“Nope, you got these last two wrong.”

“Fuck!”

“It’s the same kind of problem as the ones you got wrong on the last page. See? It should all be the same equation.”

“But it’s not the same!” Kid leaned over and jabbed his finger angrily at the problems in question. “See, they don’t give you the same variables to put in it as the other one.”

“Yes, they do,” Law said, as patiently as he could manage. “It’s just worded differently. And the second one just needs to be converted so it’ll fit into the equation.”

“Fucking hell. Why can’t they just _tell_ me what they want from me?”

“They want you to be able to think logically and critically.”

Kid groaned loudly, reaching for an eraser. “That’s not how it feels to me. Feels like they’re just trying to trick us.”

“You almost had it,” Law said, finally giving up and closing his laptop. “A little more practice, and I’m sure you’ll do fine on the test.”

“Law. I need you to be honest with me: is astronomy easier than chemistry?”

“Astronomy? Uh, not really, I don’t think so. They’re different, but they each have their own challenges. Why?”

“I had a choice between what to take,” Kid muttered, glaring furiously down at the textbook in front of him.

“And you picked chemistry because you thought it would be easy,” Law guessed, internally rolling his eyes. He hated those kinds of students, who thought they were entitled to a degree without really working for it.

But Kid surprised him by shaking his head.

“No, that’s not it. I mean, yeah, I thought that astronomy would probably be harder, ‘cause you have to be able to name stars and use telescopes and shit like that. But, I don’t think I’ll ever really need to know that stuff. I thought chemistry would be more…”

“Practical?”

“Yeah, that. Practical. But what we’re learning isn’t really practical either. The fuck do I care about conversion rates and atomic bonds, that has nothing to do with my major!”

“I think it’s important for everyone to have a basic understanding of chemistry.”

“Uh-huh. Of course you do.”

“What is your major, anyway?”

“Computer engineering. Like, building and fixing ‘em, stuff like that.”

Law raised an eyebrow. “You build computers.”

“Yeah, man. Computers are easy; you can see where all the parts are supposed to fit together, and if there’s a problem you can just _see_ it. And like, sometimes the problem is with the programming or software, but you can still find out what it is pretty easily.”

“I think most people would find repairing computers much more difficult than basic chemistry, Eustass-ya.”

“Maybe. It comes easy to me though. Machines don’t try to trick you with stupid word problems, for one thing. And no equations.”

Law shook his head. Kid kept finding ways to surprise him.

“Well, regardless, you still have to know the equations for this class. Think you’ve got the hang of it now?”

“Yeah, I can probably finish this on my own. Thanks, dude, you helped me a lot.”

“Sure. Don’t forget to study for the test next week.”

“I got it, I got it. It’ll be fine, I’m pretty sure.”

 

Kid texted Law again a few days later, while he was busy in a lab. It wasn’t until a few hours later that he checked and realized that Kid had left him no less than six messages.

Through the string of outraged profanity, he was able to work out that Kid hadn’t done as well as he’d anticipated on the chemistry test.

‘It made sense when you were explaining it to me,’ the end of the last message read. ‘I know you’re busy, but do you think you can help me again?’

Law sighed. He was busy. He was so, so unbelievably busy. In truth, he really didn’t want to have to give up more of his time to be a personal chemistry tutor.

But Kid really did seem like he was trying. He wasn’t just being lazy. It wouldn’t be fair of Law to leave him struggling with it on his own.

Plus, it was still his job.

‘Alright,’ he typed out, ‘I’ll help you.’

 

The two of them spent a long time trying to figure out a time to meet. In the end, they decided to stick to Friday afternoons, a time when both of them had a window of a few hours in their schedules.

Additionally, they switched from Law’s apartment to Kid’s. It wasn’t any further from the school than Law’s place, and they didn’t have to trek up six flights of stairs to get to it. It was quieter, too, without all of Law’s noisy neighbors around.

“How can you afford this place, anyway?” Law asked one day, looking around. The apartment was spacious, if a little cluttered, with several tall windows overlooking the busy street outside. It was really quite a nice place, actually.

“I fixed the landlord’s car.”

“Come again?”

“I work part-time at a repair garage, and I fixed his car. He lets me stay here for pretty cheap, long as I give him free tune-ups whenever he wants.”

“How nice of him.”

“Yeah. Gets a little warm in the summer, but other than that it’s a great deal.”

Over time, Law came to understand that Kid was really actually quite smart. Just, not quite the way most people tended to think of when they thought ‘smart’. He was very much a visual learner, and needed to be shown multiple examples before being able to grasp the concepts on his own. But he had a good memory, and a lot of determination, and he made steady improvements under Law’s tutelage.

Law sometimes found himself dangerously close to still having a crush on him, despite everything he’d done to drive those thoughts away from himself. Sometimes he even caught himself staring. Frankly it was embarrassing. But thankfully, Kid never seemed to notice. He was too busy concentrating on his work.

“I really can’t afford to fail this class,” he explained during one of their sessions while Law checked his answers. “Found that out the hard way freshman year. College is fucking expensive, and I ain’t got the resources to be failing core classes left and right.”

“I hear you,” Law said, sighing. “My top three choices for med school are all incredibly high-priced. And, well, I probably won’t get into any of those, but all the others on my list are almost as bad. I have no idea how I’m gonna pay for any of it.”

“Why are you applying to so many different places?”

“Like I said, I most likely won’t make it into most of them.”

“Bullshit. You’ve got perfect grades. You’ve got experience, too, remember you told me about shadowing in the hospital? They’d be crazy not to accept you.”

“Everyone else applying to get in has those things too, Eustass-ya.”

“Law. I am not going to sit here, working my ass off to even pass this chem class, and listen to you complain that you’re not good enough to get into med school. Fuckin’ chill, man, you’ll be fine.”

“Thanks. Your answer for number seven is wrong.”

“Fuck!”

They went on in this way until, before Law knew it, the last few weeks of the semester were upon them. He had been so busy he’d hardly noticed the time going by.

The chemistry professor announced that he’d be giving a cumulative exam during dead week, and saving the time that they’d usually use for the test to do one last lab. Law wasn’t sure he was quite allowed to do that, but he was also pretty sure he didn’t have the authority to say anything about it. So he said nothing, and did his best to make the SI meetings as productive as possible for everyone who came.

He continued meeting separately with Kid, too. The redhead was going out of his mind, trying to find time to study for a cumulative exam while also juggling his other classes and his job.

At this point, Law didn’t even mind the time spent in Kid’s apartment. In fact, he kind of started looking forward to it. Any break from obsessing over his own studies and waiting for letters of either acceptance or rejection from all the schools he’d applied to was a welcome one.

Plus, somewhere along the line, he’d become really committed to helping Kid. He really admired all the hard work that Kid was putting in, and wanted to see him do well.

So they studied, and they studied, and they studied.

And when the day of the test came around, Kid didn’t just pass. He made an A.

 

“I cannot believe you, Eustass-ya.”

“Hey fuck you, I think I deserve to celebrate a little.”

“I mean, yeah, sure, but _champagne?_ Champagne, Eustass-ya? Really?”

“Yes, really. We’re _celebrating_.”

“Are you even legal?”

“Nineteen and a half, baby, never been carded in my life. Listen, do you want some or not, huh?!”

Law shook his head, smiling in spite of himself. This was not what he had expected when Kid had invited him over earlier that afternoon. “Sure, I’ll have some. Why not.”

“Alright then. Sit down, I’ll be right there.”

Law sat at the table where they’d spent so much time that semester, watching the headlights pass outside the window. The view looked a lot different, at night.

“Here we go,” Kid said, taking a seat next to him at the table and passing him a glass of champagne. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.”

They drank. It had been a long, long time since Law had had champagne. He’d forgotten how much he liked it.

“I never took you for a champagne drinker, Eustass-ya.”

“Yeah, well. It felt like the right choice, for a celebration of this caliber. A fuckin’ miracle is what has occurred here, Law, do you realize that?”

“You should give yourself some more credit. You earned that A.”

“Hmph. Well, how about this; when you get accepted to all three of your top choices for med school, you can treat me, instead.”

Law snorted. “If I get in to all three, that really will be a miracle.”

“ _When_ you get in, we can go down to the bar, and you can buy me some good beer.”

“Hah, no thanks.”

“What is it?”

“Nothing. Just that I usually try to avoid going out to the bar. I, uh...don’t always make it home afterwards, y’know.”

“Oh.”

Law took another sip of champagne, looking self-consciously away from Kid. He hadn’t meant to say that. He just couldn’t seem to bring himself to be able to forget the one night stand the two of them had had earlier in the semester.

“I’d be with you,” Kid said quietly. “I could make sure you got home safe.”

“No, it’s ok, Eustass-ya. I’m not gonna put that on you. Better to just stay away from it altogether.”

“Alright then. Fine. We don’t have to go out. We could stay in, and drink here. I mean, if you want.” Kid shrugged under Law’s gaze. “You, of all people, deserve to have a little fun every now and again, Law.”

“Thanks, Eustass-ya. I think your faith in me is probably misplaced, but I appreciate it anyway.”

Kid took a deep breath. “Law, you know...I mean, I...I wanted to tell you...you...man, fuck this.”

Kid suddenly reached out and grabbed Law’s wrist, taking him by surprise. But before he could say anything, Kid was leaning over and _kissing_ him. He smelled faintly of something like leather and...and mint. A scent that, when mixed with the taste of champagne and the sensation of his lips on Law’s, was all but overwhelming.

Law closed his eyes and kissed him back.

They broke apart after what might have been merely a moment, might have been an eternity. Law was suddenly having a hard time distinguishing between the two.

“Sorry,” Kid muttered, letting go of Law’s arm and looking everywhere but at him. “I, um, don’t know if you noticed, but I...I just...I’m bad with words. What I’m trying to say is, I have a thing for you.”

“Yeah,” Law said, a little breathlessly. “Yeah, I think I’m starting to get that now.”

“I shouldn’t have slept with you, that one time. And, I probably shouldn’t have kissed you just now either. I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of how else to tell you. God, fuck…” Kid put his hands over his face, shaking his head. “Sorry, this is a wreck. I just...don’t want to stop seeing you now that SI is over.”

“Oh my god, Eustass-ya,” Law said, trying to keep from laughing. “I can’t believe this…”

“Well, obviously we don’t have to, if you don’t want-”

“No, you idiot! I can’t believe it because I have had a thing for _you_ literally this whole time, but I didn’t think you’d ever feel the same so I wasn’t going to say anything about it.”

Kid stared at him, his face a bright, burning red. “The...whole time?” he asked weakly, and Law could no longer contain himself. He threw his head back and laughed, a combination of champagne and relief and probably some other emotions making him feel a little giddy.

“You could have said something,” Kid grumbled.

“I’m sorry,” Law said, still grinning like an idiot for some reason. “I’m sorry, Eustass-ya.”

“I can’t fucking believe you were just gonna go through this whole semester without saying anything. Fuck you.”

“I’m sorry! Look, I’m saying something now.” Law reached out and put his hand back in Eustass’. “Kiss me again.”

“...Ok.”

**Author's Note:**

> These two stupid idiots have stolen my heart so utterly and completely, you guys have no idea. It was a lot of fun reimagining them in a modern setting! Thanks for reading!


End file.
